Verbum
The theme for the 2018 International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is: Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power (cf. Exodus 15:6).
We continue with day 3 of the biblical reflections from the official handbook, which was drafted this year by the Churches of the Caribbean. (You can download it here.)
Readings:
Exodus 3:4-10 (God frees those who are in human bondage)
Psalm 24:1-6 (Lord, we are the people who seek your face)
1 Corinthians 6:9-20 (Therefore glorify God in your body)
Matthew 18:1-7 (Woe to the one by whom the stumbling block comes)
Many Christian churches in the Caribbean share a concern about the issue of pornography, especially via the internet. Pornography has destructive consequences for human dignity, particularly for children and young people. Like slavery, it Commodifies human beings, ensnares those addicted to it and damages wholesome loving relationships.
Reflection
The book of Exodus demonstrates God’s concern for people in human bondage. God’s revelation to Moses at the burning bush was a powerful declaration of his will to free his people. God observed their misery, heard their cry and so came to deliver them. God still hears the cry of those who are subject to enslavement today, and wills to deliver them. While sexuality is a gift of God for human relationships and the expression of intimacy, the misuse of this gift through pornography enslaves and devalues both those caught up in producing it and those who consume it. God is not impervious to their plight and Christians are called to be similarly concerned.
St. Paul writes that we are called to give glory to God in our own bodies, which means that every part of our lives, including our relationships, can and should be an offering pleasing to God. Christians must work together for the kind of society that upholds human dignity and does not put a stumbling block before any of God’s little ones, but, rather, enables them to live in the freedom which is God’s will for them.
Prayer
By your heavenly grace, O God, restore us in mind and body, create in us a clean heart and a pure mind that we may give glory to your Name. May the churches attain unity of purpose for the sanctification of your people, through Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Jesus Himself said ” Father let them be one with us”. So we need to unite everyone so that there will be One Flock and One Shepherd. But the Church must never compromise the TRUTH and the FAITH handed down to us by the Fathers of the Church. Now the opposite has been done and what a mess it has caused, everyone is doing what ever they please, there is no reverence for the HOLY SACRAMENT of THE ALTER the “EUCHARIST” this lack of reverence has caused people to disrespect one another. When one tries to pray, to contemplate before and after Mass others around that person decides to talk about football or where they are going for breakfast after Mass.
John 17-17 “says Sanctify them in Truth; Thy word is Truth”. John 17 – 22, 23 says “The glory which thou has give me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. that they may become perfectly one”.The Mass is a healing Prayer, a healing service and all Catholics should understand the Word of God. Psalm 46-10 ” Be still and know that I AM GOD, I AM exalted among the nations”. Why should people talk instead of asking for healing Grace. what a wasted opportunity. I don’t think that,that’s how we are going to unite. If we have true Love for God and Man, then reverence will follower.
The reward will not be Grace but as Paul writes in 1 Corr. 11: 29. “Who ever eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement upon himself”. if our body is the Temple of God we must have reverence for GOD. Never forget that God destroyed the Jerusalem Temple completely, because they did not care about Him anymore they become worldly.